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v. t. e. Charlemagne [b] ( / ˈʃɑːrləmeɪn, ˌʃɑːrləˈmeɪn / SHAR-lə-mayn, -MAYN; 2 April 748 [a] – 28 January 814) was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian Empire from 800, holding all these titles until his death in 814.
- 9 October 768 – 28 January 814
- Bertrada of Laon
- Overview
- Early years
Charlemagne was an 8th-century Frankish king who has attained a status of almost mythical proportions in the West. Among other things, he was responsible for uniting most of Europe under his rule by power of the sword, for helping to restore the Western Roman Empire and becoming its first emperor, and for facilitating a cultural and intellectual renaissance, the ramifications of which were felt in Europe for centuries afterward.
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Read more about the Franks.
How did Charlemagne become emperor of the Holy Roman Empire?
Charlemagne was crowned “emperor of the Romans” by Pope Leo III in 800 CE, thus restoring the Roman Empire in the West for the first time since its dissolution in the 5th century. Charlemagne was selected for a variety of reasons, not least of which was his long-standing protectorate over the papacy. His protector status became explicit in 799, when the pope was attacked in Rome and fled to Charlemagne for asylum. The ensuing negotiations ended with Leo’s reinstallation as pope and Charlemagne’s own coronation as Holy Roman emperor.
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Around the time of the birth of Charlemagne—conventionally held to be 742 but likely to be 747 or 748—his father, Pippin III (the Short), was mayor of the palace, an official serving the Merovingian king but actually wielding effective power over the extensive Frankish kingdom. What little is known about Charlemagne’s youth suggests that he received practical training for leadership by participating in the political, social, and military activities associated with his father’s court. His early years were marked by a succession of events that had immense implications for the Frankish position in the contemporary world. In 751, with papal approval, Pippin seized the Frankish throne from the last Merovingian king, Childeric III. After meeting with Pope Stephen II at the royal palace of Ponthion in 753–754, Pippin forged an alliance with the pope by committing himself to protect Rome in return for papal sanction of the right of Pippin’s dynasty to the Frankish throne. Pippin also intervened militarily in Italy in 755 and 756 to restrain Lombard threats to Rome, and in the so-called Donation of Pippin in 756 he bestowed on the papacy a block of territory stretching across central Italy which formed the basis of a new political entity, the Papal States, over which the pope ruled.
When Pippin died in 768, his realm was divided according to Frankish custom between Charlemagne and his brother, Carloman. Almost immediately the rivalry between the two brothers threatened the unity of the Frankish kingdom. Seeking advantage over his brother, Charlemagne formed an alliance with Desiderius, king of the Lombards, accepting as his wife the daughter of the king to seal an agreement that threatened the delicate equilibrium that had been established in Italy by Pippin’s alliance with the papacy. The death of Carloman in 771 ended the mounting crisis, and Charlemagne, disregarding the rights of Carloman’s heirs, took control of the entire Frankish realm.
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Mar 25, 2019 · Charlemagne, also known as Charles the Great, is most famous for uniting most of Western Europe through his military conquests and for his significant educational and ecclesiastical reforms that laid the groundwork for the development of modern European nations.
- Joshua J. Mark
- Dhwty
- Charlemagne’s Early Life. Charlemagne was born during the decade of 740 AD. He was born either in Liège in modern day Belgium or in Aachen of modern day Germany.
- Military Campaigns. Following Pepin’s death in 768 AD, the kingdom was divided between Charlemagne and his younger brother, Carloman. Following Carloman’s death in 771 AD, Charlemagne became the sole ruler of the Kingdom of the Franks.
- Emperor of the Romans. In 800 AD, Pope Leo III was facing a rebellion, and was attacked on the streets of Rome, hence was compelled to seek the aid of Charlemagne.
- The Carolingian Renaissance. It was also under Charlemagne’s rule that the so-called ‘Carolingian Renaissance’ occurred. Einhard wrote that Charlemagne was interested in learning.
Jun 27, 2023 · In the midst of these trying times, a boy named Carolus Magnus—Charles the Great—was born in 742. More commonly known as Charlemagne, the heir to the Carolingian dynasty, he went on to become...
Jan 20, 2021 · Luke Tomes. 20 Jan 2021. @histluketomes. Charlemagne, also known as Charles the Great, was the founder of the Carolingian Empire, and was best known for uniting Western Europe for the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire. He is, most certainly, still politically relevant today.
Charles fought longer in Saxony than anywhere else, but it was in Spain that he fought arguably his most famous battle, which was, ironically, also his greatest defeat. During the 777 Assembly at Paderborn, a deputation of exotic strangers caused much attention among the tall, fair-skinned Franks and Saxons.
